thirup pallANdu

From the Bhakti List Archives

• January 23, 1998


This is a nice pAsuram by periyAzhvAr. The best, i would say, among the 12
verses of thiruppallANdu. 

We always identify ourselves by saying the SAkhA that we belong to, our
gOthram, sUthram... Other than these we have many other ahaN^kAric
identifications like the place of birth (Triplicane !), the jAthi...
We feel so proud about all these identifications that we forget our eternal
relationship with the Lord. We are all His servants at all times. It is this
that we should realize and identify ourselves with. 

	Hence all of us belong to the thoNdar kulam (servant clan). Anything
else that we claim ourselves to be is paNdai kulam (old/ancient clan). In
this birth i am born in a brahmin family, yajur SAkhA, vAthUla gOthram, and
in my last birth i could have been something else. So these identifications
are just temporary. It is just the identification for the body in this
birth. But the eternal identification is being His servant. 

******************************Start Quote*************************

   thoNdak kulaththil uLLeer! vandhu adi thozhudhu 
       aayira naamam solli
   paNdaik kulaththaith thavirndhu 
       pallaaNdu pallaayiraththaaNdenminE


   O people!
   Join our clan of servants, and come
   Having worshipped His feet and
   Having said His thousand names
[...]
*****************************End Quote******************************

	I think, AzhvAr is addressing the people and asking them to join his
group. He lists the tasks as "Come, Worship His feet, Say His 1000 names"
So instead of 'Having worshipped' and 'Having said', it could just be 
'come, Worship His feet and say His 1000 names...'. 


adiyEn